Seek Advice Before Settling Your Deceased Spouse’s Debts Patty Mann* lost her husband, Mark, in August 2018 to a rare form of cancer. Mark had been self-employed. With his health in decline during his last year, Patty assumed Mark had been closing down his consulting business. In fact, Mark had indicated everything was “all buttoned […]

Wings for Widows focuses on grieving widows’ financial needs and not necessarily on the grieving widow’s grief. When working with a widow client we are acutely aware of her sense of loss and her fear of the unknown. But we don’t try to “fix” her grief. We leave that to the professionals. We focus on […]

The loss of a spouse can be a devastating, life-changing event. Due to longer life expectancies, women are more likely to face this situation. Becoming a widow at any age can be one of the most difficult challenges a woman must face. Not only is there the emotional loss of a spouse, but also the […]

Social Security survivor’s benefits can provide much-needed income to you and your family after losing your spouse. It’s important you understand who and how you might qualify and what those benefits are. Who is Eligible? Knowing the decedent’s insured status and earnings record at time of death is essential to determining who will be eligible […]

When your spouse dies, you’ll need to handle numerous financial and legal matters. Even if you’ve always handled your family’s finances, you may be overwhelmed by the number of matters you have to settle in the weeks and months following your loved one’s death. While you can put off some of these tasks, others require […]

Most people purchase some form of life insurance to offset the risk of loss associated with premature death and to plan for the future of their survivors. Others self-insure by saving or earmarking existing assets, while still others use some combination of life insurance and self-insurance. Another way to provide adequate resources for your survivors […]

I recently joined a group of eight women who had found one another in a GriefShare support group ten months earlier. All had suffered a profound loss. Most were widows, another had lost her mother. All had a common bond: pain. We humans often connect on the level of our struggles, and these women connected […]